Recipe - Poulet de Canon

Continuing the "Artillery Chicken" theme from my last recipe, I present to you Poulet de Canon. It's a nice play on words - Cannonball, in French, is Boulet de Canon, and Chicken is Poulet. Serendipity, baby!

What you'll find below is a more adult take on Chicken Croquettes - more chicken than bread, nice texture, topped with a delicate Mornay sauce.



Cannonballs:
Approximately 2 pounds of chicken, cubed into 1/2" cubes
2 Large eggs - lightly scrambled
1 Small onion - diced
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. season-all
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. parsley

Sauce:
4 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1 cup (plus a bit more) half-and-half
2 tbsp. instant flour
1/2 cup asiago cheese
pinch parprika
pinch chile powder
pinch salt
pinch pepper

Make the Cannonballs:
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl and combine well.
Roll into 12 equal portions and drop them into muffin tins.
Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Make the sauce:
Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan.
Add the minced garlic.
Whisk the instant flour into 1 cup of half-and-half, and add to the butter and garlic.
Raise the temperature enough that the sauce thickens. If it's too thick, add more half-and-half.
Add the cheese and spices.

To serve:
Top the Cannonballs with the Mornay sauce, add a dot of Rooster Sauce, and enjoy!

Recipe - Chicken Grenades

Indulge me - this one has a back story.

I'm chatting with a buddy of mine, and knocking chain restaurants pretty hard (life's too short to eat at chain restaurants), and I mentioned that I get why parents take their kids to chains, this is, as best as I can recall, how the conversation proceeded from there:

---

Me: I get it - if your kid likes the Chicken Grenades at Applebee's, he'll eat Chicken Grenades at any Applebee's.

Him: Right.

Me: Wait - does Applebee's sell Chicken Grenades.

Him: I don't think so.

Me: Well, somebody should! Imagine the hook! "Chicken Grenades - Exploding with Flavor!"

Him: ...

Me: You know what? I'm going to make me some damn Chicken Grenades this weekend!

---

Thus, the Chicken Grenade recipe was born!


Ingredients:
For the grenades:
6 Boneless, Skinless chicken thighs (Pounded Flat)
6 Jalepeno Peppers
6 Oz. shredded cheddar cheese (or a Mexican blend, or whatever, man, your call)

For the sauce:
1 quart Chicken Stock
1 large Onion
1 medium Bell Pepper
6 oz. can Tomato Paste
1 Tbsp. Sugar
Pinch Salt
4 oz. Heavy Cream
2 Tbsp. Instant Flour
Vegetable oil
Handful chopped Fresh Cilantro

Preparation:
Preheat your oven to 375

Start the sauce
Dice the onion and pepper into 1/2" squares
Sweat the onions and peppers in a medium sauce pan with the vegetable oil and salt.
Once soft, add the chicken stock, sugar and tomato paste, bring to a boil.
Whisk the flour and heavy cream together, and add to the sauce to thicken it.
Once the sauce is thickened, add the cilantro.

Make the grenades
Wash the jalepenos, cut off the tops, and remove the seeds and pith.
Wrap a chicken thigh around each pepper, and place them open-side up in muffin pan.
Stuff each pepper with around one ounce of cheese, and then add a bit more to the top.

Put it all together
Bake the grenades for around 35-40 minutes.
Top them with the sauce.
Eat them.

You're going to need:
A standard-sized muffin or cupcake pan
Optional: Foil liners for the pan if you don't want your next batch of cupcakes to taste of jalepenos.

Serves:
Makes six grenades.

Recipe - Chicken Marsala

Slightly different take on the traditional Marsala Sauce recipe.

Ingredients: 
For the chicken
2-3 pounds chicken - boned, pounded, and cut into medallions
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. vegetable oil

For the dredge 
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. garlic powder
Pinch salt

For the sauce
4 cups sweet Marsala wine
1/2 cup light cream or half-and-half
8 oz. mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
2 tbsp. instant flour
1 tbsp. butter
Chicken stock (if needed)

Preparation:
In a large, heavy chef's pan or dutch oven, begin heating the butter and vegetable oil over medium-high heat.

Prepare the dredge by combining all ingredients and whisking.

Lightly coat the chicken with the dredge mixture, and pan-fry them in the oil and butter. Don't crowd the pan. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside as they complete.

Once all of the chicken is cooked, add the butter, and/or a bit more oil, allow the pan to return to temperature, and brown the mushrooms.

When the mushrooms have browned, add the wine to to the pan and reduce the heat to medium. Reduce by about a quarter.

Whisk the cream and instant flower together, and add to the pan. Stir to dissolve, and heat to a low boil. Reduce the heat again to a simmer.

Extend the sauce (if needed) with the chicken stock.

Add the cooked chicken to the sauce, stir, and simmer for 5 minutes or so to allow the flavors to blend.

Serve over linguine or fetuccini.

Serves:
2-4

You're going to need:
A large, heavy pot

Tip - Washing mushrooms

Mushrooms are grown in a combination of soil and manure.

Mushrooms, unless otherwise specified, are sold unwashed.

Good mushrooms, purchased in bulk, are never washed prior to being offered for sale.

Traditional wisdom dictates that you never wash a mushroom - it will take on too much moisture, and will be soggy. The most common techniques are to wipe them with damp paper towel, or brush them with a dry vegetable brush.

Sucks to that - if you've got a salad spinner, and some hearty mushrooms, do this right before you cook them and thank me by sending along your recipe.

Put your mushrooms in plastic colander or (better yet) silicone sieve. Toss gently under ample cold running water.

Spin them in the salad spinner, with the dividers removed (if possible) until you don't see water hitting the sides of the outer bowl. Prepare immediately.

I've done this, and managed to brown the mushrooms immediately afterward, so I'm pretty confident that they're not taking on excess water in the process.

Recipe - Mushroom Soup with dumplings

This uses the chicken stock and rendered chicken fat found here as its base, and only gets better from there.

Ingredients:
For the soup
1 gallon chicken stock
1.5 pounds crimini mushrooms
2 medium onions
2 large carrots
1 Tbsp. dried Rosemary
1 Tbsp. dried Thyme
3 oz. rendered chicken fat
1 Tbsp. butter

For the noodles
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
Half-cup cornmeal
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp. water
Pinch of salt

Preparation:
In a large stock pot, get the stock heating.

Put the rosemary and thyme in a cheesecloth bag (or, better yet, a disposable tea bag), leash it, and put it in the pot.

In a large skillet, begin heating the chicken fat and butter over medium heat.

Wash, then halve or quarter the criminis (depending on size), and brown them in small batches in the fat. Once browned, add to the soup. Do not salt the mushrooms!

Dice the onions very small - caramelize in the fat and add to the soup.

Slice the carrots, and add to the soup.

Bring the soup to a low boil and begin on the dumplings.

Hopefully you have a stand mixer. If not, this part is going to be unpleasant.

Add the flour, cornmeal, and salt to the mixer bowl, and whisk to combine.

Make a depression in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the eggs. Fold briefly with a spatula.

Using the dough-hook, begin kneading the dough. Add water slowly until it forms a ball that pulls all of the dry ingredients from the bowl. Continue to knead for an additional minute.

Roll the dough out approximately 1/16" thick, and cut into square dumplings. Let stand for a few minutes.

While the dough is resting, bring the soup to a rolling boil, and remove the spice bag.

Add dumplings to soup - boil for about five minutes.

Serve.

You're going to need:
A stand mixer.
A large stockpot.
A large skillet.

Serves:
6-8 as a soup course.
2-4 as a main course.

Stock, of the chicken variety

You're not going to like this recipe. It's much easier to open a can (bad) or use those clay-like cube things wrapped in foil (I'd rather eat the foil, thankyouverymuch). However, as stock is the primary ingredient in almost every soup, a main ingredient in countless other dishes, and extends sauces admirably, do yourself a favor, waste less food, and make a big pot of stock.

Ingredients:
Chicken Bones - approximately two pounds.
Chicken Parts - feet, gizzards, beaks, necks, who cares? Anything in this category is a bonus.
Chicken Skin - approximately half a pound
Four large onions
Salt

Preparation:
In a large stock pot, get about three gallons of water heating.

While the water is heating, rinse (but don't peel) the onions.

Halve the onions.

Drop halved onions in the pot.

Separate the chicken bones, making sure to break the spine in several places.


(Optional) Brown the chicken bones in a large skillet. Only really recommended if the chicken parts are raw.

Drop the bones and skin into the pot.

Once the water is boiling, add salt to taste (about a tablespoon should get you there) and stir.

Reduce heat to a low boil, and leave on the heat for about three hours. Add water to the pot if needed.

Taste the stock, and continue cooking until it is the desired strength. Stronger is better. Note that you will need to part a fairly thick fat layer on top to get to the stock beneath.

Once it's ready, pour through a sieve (faster) or cheesecloth (much slower) into a large container. Cool as rapidly as possible.

Once cooled, there will be a solid fat layer on top of the stock. Remove and reserve.

Use immediately or freeze for longer storage.

You're going to need:
A large stock pot (16-20 quart, minimum)
A sieve.
A large storage container.
Freezer-safe storage containers.

Serves:
Makes about two gallons of stock.

Recipe - Pan Seared Skate Wing

Skate wing fillets are strange, no doubt, but, offer a satisfying texture and complex flavor.

Ingredients:
Skate Wing Fillet(s)
Flour
Olive Oil
Butter
Kosher Salt
White wine

Preparation:
Begin heating a large skillet with olive oil and butter.

Pat the fillets dry and lightly sprinkle both sides with kosher salt.

Dredge the fillets lightly with flour.

Pan-sear the fillets, one at a time, for 2-3 minutes per side.

Once all the fillets are cooked, make a quick roux with butter and flour in the skillet, and add the wine.

Reduce by at least half, and serve over the skate.

You're going to need:
Nothing special.

Serves:
As many as you have fillets.